Page 162 of The Princesses of Ruin
She frowns and swallows hard, her eyes glistening. “Don’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because…I’m not worth choosing. I’m terrible. I like to be alone. I like the sea. I like hunting.”
“I liked doing those things with you. Sure, it’s not alone, but I know how to be quiet.”
She laughs a little as a tear escapes her lid. I thumb her cheek, smearing the wetness across her tanned, rosy face.
“If I get to explore with you, who knows what new herbs I’ll discover and potions I’ll create. The pups want the wild, too. It’s where they belong. Not trapped in a dungeon with me day in and day out. They’ll be better hunting partners.”
She sighs dramatically. “You’re making a pretty good case.”
I take a step closer until I can feel her warmth seeping into my clothes. “Plus, I know how to make you scream. No more terrible lovers in random ports. I’m always around.”
She hums and leans closer to me, pressing her chest against mine.
“We’ll need to soundproof our cabin.”
I’m soaring, my throat so tight I think I might choke on my next words.
“Ourcabin, is it? Does that make me…co-captain?”
“Don’t go getting any ideas.”
She moves into me until our lips are almost touching, but she stops.
“Adrik.”
Breathing in my name from her lips makes me high.
“Yes, my huntress?”
“I love you.”
I kiss her, sealing those words between us to burn into our chests. The pain of needing is quenched only by the knowledge that she’s mine enough for now. I have to make it something more permanent. Something forever.
“Marry me, huntress,” I say on a breathless murmur.
Her eyes sparkle and she smiles. “When?”
“Now. Right now.”
She laughs. “Do you have a ribbon?”
I hunt around and find the dogs’ leashes. I hold them up and Brisha barks to be let down, finally fed up with being restrained by Kor’Tar. We take the dogs out of the saddlebags and they sit beside us as Emillia reads the rites of marriage to me.
Kor’Tar whinnies loudly and there’s awhoosh-thump.
I start and Emillia pulls her pistol.
Kazimir stares me down, his face masked, but all the aggression is in his walk. “You thought you could get married without me?”
He takes the leashes from me and straightens his flight suit. “Please, Captain, continue.”
Emillia grins and holds her hand up. We entwine our fingers and bring our forearms together. Kazimir wraps Yakshim’s leash around our joined arms from wrist to elbow, then does the same with Brisha’s.
When the time comes, I agree to all her terms, whatever they are, and kiss her fiercely. Kazimir claps and cheers, as do the men on the boat. The dogs bark, Kor’Tar whinnies, and the sea roars against the shore.
